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Doctor Hara
In Biggles on Mystery Island, Doctor Hara was an American doctor who ran a colony on the island of Oratovoa in the South Seas. According to one of the colonists, Axel Pruntz, the idea of the colony might simply have been a ruse to trick money out of people who wish to join. On the other hand, the doctor seemed genuinely interested in his experiment of trying to create a superior race of people immune to all diseases by selecting the best attributes from inter-mixing men and women of all races. Hara's typical method of attracting volunteers for his colony was to run a newspaper advertisement seeking recruits from people tired of modern civilisation and desiring a new life in a tropical island colony. In this manner he recruited Axel Pruntz and his friend Martin Larsson in Stockholm. The recruits had to pay 500 pounds for the privilege and were then shipped to Oratovoa where they were swiftly disillusioned, for the island colony turned out to be nothing better than a prison camp and life there no more than slave-labour. Hara's colony a small village of huts built inside the crater of a supposedly extinct volcano which was the main geopgraphical feature of Oratovoa. He enforced his rule on the colonists through his associates Swenson and Ronbach. A force of armed guards and a large pack of dogs discouraged people from attempting to escape. Hara styled himself as "King" and the colonists were required to address him as such. He habitually wore a toga of Roman style and a crown and struck the colonists as mad. Biggles first met Hara when he arrived at the island to investigate the strange disappearance of ships and people in the area. He noted that Hara was dressed in a white garment in the style of a bath robe and dark horn-rimmed glasses which concealed the eyes. He was a big man of between firty and sixty, with a high dome of a forehead. His face was large and square and fell into heavy lines with a prominent nose. Biggles observed that, "Taken altogether, it was a strong face." Biggles and Marcel went to confront Hara and told him that his activities would have to stop. The dangerous pack of dogs would have to be destroyed and any colonists who wished to leave should be allowed to do so. Biggles also warned him that while he might have thought the volcano was extinct, it was in fact very much alive and on the verge of erupting. Hara rejected these demands and had Biggles and Marcel imprisoned. After Ginger, Axel and Sven Heldersen had released Biggles and Marcel, Biggles went to find Hara's house again to seek him out. He found him asleep and drunk in bed. Again, Biggles offered him a chance to leave the island with him as the volcano was about to erupt. Hara again refused, leaving Biggles no choice but to lock him in his room while he and his party took the rest of the colonists away. Hara was never seen again. Biggles returned to Oratovoa a few days later at the request of the British government to survey the aftermath of the volcanic eruption. There was no sign of human life although Biggles did recover a box of money, the funds Hara had taken off his colonists. Hara's true identity was never known. Inquiries with the American police revealed that a doctor of the same name had escaped from a criminal asylum. This doctor had a fondness for titles and was believed to be the same person but this was never proven. That "King Hara" had medical training was supported by the fact that Biggles found a room set up as a hospital ward in Hara's house. Axel also observed that Hara appeared to have done some plastic surgery to alter the appearance of Swenson, who was wanted by the police. Category:People Category:Biggles characters Category:Air Police era characters